I know a lot of rich people drive old cars.
People make them selves poor by often buying very expencive cars they cannot afford.
I often chat to people who cannot understand that just becase your rich does not mean you need to spend millions on a car. Those who are not rich presume if you are rich you MUST show it off.
Its probably why most lottery winners blow there cash in a short time.
One thing to note that in the UK public transport is very expensive. Its cheaper to buy a car than get a train. Ie, you could by a decent sencond hand car for about £500 (I got my car for £180 - see
www.skrapcar.com). Now to get a train ticket from Leeds to London it can cost easily over £90. In a small car you can do it for £40 in fuel. So if say 5 of you go from Leeds to London, it works out cheaper to buy a car. If it only lasts you a month and breaks down its still cheaper (plus you get £200 for the car for scrap).
The key is to think of things you buy as cash clever. For instance a house will probably not loose much cash, and often will increase in value. So it makes sense yto buy. And buy a nice one in a nice place.
But if you spend $400 on a pair of jeans, what is the point? Often its just to make you feel 'big' when you buy them. 'Look at me, I can afford $400 jeans'. Its rather silly.
The thing to remember is that the 'bulk' of people will want to look rich, by spending all there cash of goods they do not need. They will often run out and try any get rich scheme they can thats going (such as in the UK buying flats to rent out - then the mAarket crashd). The key is not to be one of those but to make money of those types.